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Books & Other Information

There are a limited number of books here so far - if you'd like to, you can submit a review.

This page lists various books relevant to newts and salamanders. Each has a small review of what it contains (the review author's name or initials are at the beginning or end of each review). It should be noted that not all of these books are English Language. The books have been divided into sections as follows:

Frank
Indiviglio "Newts and Salamanders: a
Complete Pet Owner's Manual", 1997, Barron's
Educational Series.Of all of the beginner's books that I have read, this is one of the
most accurate and easier to read. The author gives good basic
information about maintaining animals in captivity and he describes a
number of different species, along with their specific needs. Frank Indiviglio shows that he has a great deal of practical
knowledge of Caudates and this book is a good buy for anyone
new to the hobby looking for a book that covers a lot of salamanders.
8/10 - (JC)

John
Coborn "Amphibians", 2000, T.F.H. Publications.(Review by Neil France) This new edition takes some of
its content from an earlier Coborn book "Salamanders and
Newts"' (see review below), but also includes anurans in its
content, and therefore the relevant information to specialist caudate
keepers is diluted accordingly. "Amphibians", in keeping
with most TFH publications, has a wealth of excellent colour photographs
(although a number appear to have been enhanced), along with a few
factual inaccuracies. The information on each species mentioned is
somewhat scant, and could only act as to point the prospective keeper to
seek further information elsewhere. As a result, I was really
unsure as to which section of the hobby it was aimed at, beginner or the
more advanced. Housing, nutrition, captive breeding and care are
all examined, but again a lack of depth is its main failing.
Overall, however, it's worth taking a look at just for the quality of
the photos.

John
Coborn "Salamanders and Newts... as a Hobby",
1993, T.F.H. Publications.This is a beginners book on Salamanders and Newts. It is
fairly basic, but it does give a reasonable grounding in how to take
care of the easier species. Like most TFH books, it's far from being
very accurate, so don't rely solely on the information here. 5/10 - (JC)

Multiple Species Books

Trevor Beebee and Richard Griffiths "Amphibians and
Reptiles: A Natural History of the British Herpetofauna",
2000, Harper Collins.
(Review by Neil France) The authors of this excellent book
have used some very up to date research in bringing the study of
British herpetofauna into the new century. In the early sections,
colonisation following the last Ice Age is discussed, explaining
the relative paucity in British species numbers in relation to the
near continent. Basic biology of amphibians and reptiles is
covered before the main sections on the animal orders. The 7
species of native amphibian along with the 6 species of reptile
each have a very comprehensive section, which covers behaviour,
reproduction, life-history, population ecology, habitat and
distribution. The book concludes with two chapters which chart the
effect man has had on the native species. The chapter on aliens,
from the apparently benign species which were just too slow to
have made it across the land bridge before sea levels rose, to the
trans-continental introductions which should have no place in the
British countryside, are all given a page or so. The devastating
effect of the change in land usage in the 20th century and its
results make quite grim reading, but the book concludes with a
more up-beat section on recent conservation efforts. It contains
over 80 black and white line drawings and illustrations along with
31 colour plates. My only criticism is, that given the relatively
small number of subjects, each should command a full-page plate to
itself rather than squeezing 3 or 4 on to a single page.

William E. Duellman and Linda Trueb "Biology of
Amphibians", 1994, Johns Hopkins University Press.This book is a must for those interested in amphibian biology
and is viewed as the standard Amphibian Text Book for science
students and professionals. There are diagrams,
statistics, photographs (black and white) and information from the
combined research of many hundreds of scientists around the world.
This book isn't bedtime reading, but if you'd like to know a great
deal about what makes amphibians tick, this is the
book for you. 10/10 - (JC)

Richard Griffiths "The Newts and Salamanders of
Europe",
1996, T & AD Poyser.Written for a similar audience to Petranka's book below, this book is about a
fifth of the length of Petranka's because Griffiths writes about
his subjects in a combined sense rather than with very detailed accounts
of each species. In fact, the species section reserves only 1-2
pages per species. However, this doesn't detract much from the
book itself. Instead, the Author prefers to compare and contrast
throughout the book, which works quite well. This is the most detailed book about
European salamanders that I know of. Although the species covered are
European, it does mention species
in other parts of the world when talking about evolution and when
making comparisons. Not enough photos though! 8.5/10 - (JC)

James
W. Petranka "Salamanders of the United States and Canada",
1998, Smithsonian Institute Press.This beautiful hard back book is currently the best book about
the
salamanders in the US and Canada. Petranka approaches the subject of salamanders from an ecological
and ethological viewpoint. Each individual species' characteristics, habitats,
biology and many other aspects are described in great detail. From the
hobbyist's point of view, this book is a good guide for field trips and
it also describes conditions that each animal is used to in the wild so
that we might better maintain and breed them in captivity. Containing lovely photographs, pictures and diagrams,
my only gripe is that the photos don't fill the full width of the pages.
However, I can't recommend this book more highly. 10/10 - (JC)

Marc
Staniszewski "Amphibians in Captivity", 1995, TFH
Publications.Despite some inaccuracies, this book is definitely the best English
language text about captive amphibians and deserves a place on every
hobbyist's bookshelf. Any attempt to write an all-encompassing text like this could quite reasonably be expected to fall short of perfection, especially when judging other "general
amphibian" texts out there. This book is, for the most part, an exception to the rule.
Not only does it cover the usual species information such as size and feeding, it also fills in many of the gaps
that other books leave, such as the longevity of each species. 544 pages may seem like a lot, but unlike many other "general" amphibian books,
there is no filler. Nearly the first 200 pages deal with various aspects of
amphibian natural history and captive care in fine detail (for example there are over 30 pages on feeding
alone as well as the individual notes on feeding for each species, and over 40 on
housing, and this isn't "filler"), followed by about 350 pages on species care
covering the Caecilians, Salamanders and Anurans, in that order. Though
a bit expensive, it has no equal in its field in the English language.
(7.5/10). - (JC)

Robert
Thorn and Jean Raffaëlli "Les Salamandres de l'Ancien Monde"
["The Salamanders of the Old World"], 2001, Societé
Nouvelle des Editions Boubée Paris.This
French language book is the updated and improved version of Robert
Thorn's classic 1968 text, "Les Salamandres".
This new text is quite possibly the best all-round work for Caudata
enthusiasts. Each species is described in detail, undersuch topics as synonyms, description, colouration,
“diagnosis”, larvae, distribution, habitat, natural behaviour/ethology
and briefly, their care requirements in captivity.This text is pitched at a fairly advanced level, seemingly for
the advanced hobbyist/enthusiast who doesn’t have access to scientific
literature.It’s easily
the most accurate text that also includes captive care information, and
that's taking into account other texts that I know of in English, French
and German. The approach of describing the wild animal rather than
the captive, and then providing notes on captive care, is without doubt
the best way to write in this subject area.The only criticism that I can level at the book is that there are
too few photographs and most species are, unfortunately, left out of the
photo section.The book is
449 pages long and it is packed from cover to cover with pertinent
information.The references
section is a veritable map of the best salamander articles around.Highly recommended (9.5/10). - (JC)

Peter W. Scott "Axolotls", 1981,
T.F.H.
Publications.
Later reissued as "Axolotls: Care and Breeding in
Captivity", 1995, T.F.H. Publications.
This book begins by describing the Axolotl's obscure name and
significance and goes on to cover its feeding, housing, breeding,
genetics and diseases. If you're new to the hobby and the Axolotl
is your thing, this is the book for
you.
The first edition was hard-backed, and although well
illustrated, many of the photos were poorly printed and obscure.
The second edition is a paper back, and contains many of the
photos of the original (but in much higher quality), plus many
many new pictures and photos. The text however, is exactly the
same, as far as I can see. If you have a
copy of the original, I would advise that you don't bother
investing in the new edition unless you would like the new pictures.
7/10 - (JC)

Various contributors, edited by John B. Armstrong and George M.
Malacinski, "Developmental Biology of the Axolotl",
1989, Oxford University Press.This has to be the definitive book about Axolotls. John B.
Armstrong was the director of the University of Ottawa's Axolotl
Colony until it was disbanded and George M. Malacinski is the
faculty director of the Indiana University's Axolotl Colony.
Indiana University could quite rightly be viewed as the second
home of the Axolotl. It was there, in the late 1960s that the
Albino form of the Axolotl was developed.
This book is all encompassing; its twenty five chapters are
primarily aimed at scientists who work with axolotls, but for the
keen hobbyist, it contains quite a few chapters of interest,
including the most in-depth account of the Axolotl's origins and
history. The third section concentrates on the practicalities of
maintaining Axolotls, and elsewhere in the book are chapters on
genetics (one looking at Axolotl genetics in general, and others
looking at specific categories or individual genes and their
effects), metamorphosis and even an entire chapter devoted to the
lateral line system. The only downsides to this book are that it
lacks colour photographs and that it's selective in which aspects
of the axolotl it covers. 8.5/10 - (JC)

Video Reviews

Charles Snell "Succeeding with Newts", 1994.
Running Time: 105 minutes. Language: English.
(Review by Neil France) Videos dedicated to newts and
salamanders seem as rare as hen's teeth, so to come across one filmed by an enthusiastic herpetologist who specialises in the genus
Triturus was a great find. Four years in the making, despite this being an amateur production the quality of the photography is generally very good and
it's accompanied by a knowledgeable narrative. This makes 'Succeeding with Newts' an enjoyable and educational watch.
The video is split roughly into two parts. The opening section shows detailed observations of the 3 native UK
Triturus species, (T. cristatus, T. helveticus and
T. vulgaris), in clean and attractively laid out aquaria.
Courtship, egg-laying and egg development are covered comprehensively.
Excellent footage of 3 Northern European species T. alpestris,
T. marmoratus and T. vittatus is also included, with a magnificent male Banded being the star of the show.
This section, along with the life cycle of the newts, is completed with close-up photography of feeding time in a mixed tank of the young of the larger species (Crested, Banded, Marbled and Alpine).
The second section is dedicated to the design and production of escape proof vivaria of the indoor and outdoor variety, for housing both caudates and anurans.
A number of new and ongoing conservation projects are shown, along with outlines of future video productions.
As it was completed in 1994, some of the closing details are now out of date, but this video is still a very worthwhile addition to any newt keeper's library.